Tennessee - getting less free by the day.
Compared to states like Pennsylvania, California, and Massachusetts, we here in Tennessee have it pretty good legally. I’m not saying things are perfect, but they could be much, much worse.
Well, they’re declining. As of October 1, 2007, all establishments/companies in Tennessee will be required to ban smoking, unless they meet the following requirements:
-“Age-restricted venues,” like bars.
- Any business enclosed by garage doors — if at least one door is open.
- Businesses with up to three employees that have a separate smoking area.
- Open air patios, porches or decks.
- Private clubs.
- Private homes and vehicles, unless they are used for day care.
- Retail tobacco stores.
- Tobacco manufacturing or processing plants.
- Up to 25 percent of rooms in a hotel or motel
“Age-restricted” apparently means “21-and-up”, even though the legal smoking age is 18. I suppose they want to keep the booze and the tobacco together. Personally, I think they need to lower the drinking age. Kids are going to drink, anyway, and if the recent deaths by high school graduates and young college students are any indication, banning isn’t doing any good. There are likely going to be about the same number of kids drinking to excess as there are now (after an initial flood of drunken young adults, which will wear off quickly as the 18- to 20-year-old set realizes it’s not as fun to drink when you’re allowed), so it’s not like it would really change anything.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand.
Some places are pre-emptively banning smoking in their places of business here in Memphis. One such place is a brewery. Because they don’t have age restrictions on who can come in, and because a good part of their profits are from food sales (they’re a “pub”, basically), no ciggies allowed.
I predict a large number of “regulars” who will not be returning, at least not to the degree they once were.
The Lone Libertarian has a better post up (being a frequent customer to this establishment), along with links to the representatives who voted for/against this stupid ruling.
At least they haven’t banned smoking in the home/car.
I’m just kind of surprised by this, because one of Tennessee’s major “cash crops” is tobacco.
- fyi , government , links , public service announcement , wtf
July 17th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Yeah, Georgia pulled that a few years ago. And when I moved in to this house, I was surrounded by tobacco crops. I notice they’re not growing it lately though, and I heard that it is one of those crops that the government is now paying farmers *not* to grow.
Shooot…every high school kid had a summer job cropping or panning tobacco growing up.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:04 am
The bill actually went before the Agriculture Committee before it was passed. I haven’t done too much digging to see what the justification was, most probably Bredesen’s cigarette tax hike coupled with a subsidy I’m sure.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Babs - Well, it looks like our farmers are being paid off, too. That disturbs me.
Jesse - I don’t see how this isn’t going to lead to a shortage of funds in the state. If cigarettes get to be too expensive, people are going to slow down on the purchase, which is going to cut revenue from them, anyway. And using tax money to pay the farmers for that lack of revenue is going to take away from the money that’s supposed to be used for other stuff. I don’t see a good outcome for this, regardless of the justification. I guess this is how they’re “justifying” the toll roads, too.
July 17th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
What? And I’m supposed to move to a state that won’t let me smoke in a bar? That’s what I’m trying to escape! WTF?
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Josh, you can still smoke in a bar in Georgia. And they’re starting to open up restaurant clubs just for smokers. But you can’t smoke in a public restaurant/bar combination until they kick the kids out (usually 10pm). By 9:55 you’ll see people breaking out their smokes and tapping them on the bar, waiting.